PODs who can make a difference ahead of Round 22

Going with the pack all the time won't be good enough to get you over the line at this time of the year, so this week we're looking at the point of difference players who can propel your team on the run home. 

For this category we've only considered players who sit in under six percent of teams right now, with a couple of other players like Braydon Trindall and Isaiah Papali'i unlucky not to be included here. 

PODs who can make a difference ahead of Round 22

Jamal Fogarty (HLF, $735k)

He was killing it prior to picking up his long-term injury in Round 7, averaging 60.5 per game, but he’s been even better over the past fortnight since returning to the field for the Raiders.

A 62 in Round 20 and 74 in Round 21 were achieved without Fogarty scoring a try on either occasion, with his close to 600 kicking metres in both games giving him a nice base of 19 points which was then topped up by try assists and his excellent goalkicking. Selected by just 6.54 percent of teams ahead of Round 22, Fogarty is scoring so well that he’s actually a HLF you could get instead of other top tier options like Nathan Cleary or Daly Cherry-Evans if you really want to go against the tide.  

The Raiders have a tough run home, with all but one of their remaining clashes coming against current top eight sides, but Fogarty is going to be central to everything they do and Canberra have shown they have what it takes to topple the big guns on their day.

Hudson Young (EDG, $758k)

While he had a couple of big scores scattered amongst a glut of 40s earlier in the season, Young has seriously caught fire in the past fortnight to register scores of 92 and 83 and he seems to be benefitting greatly from the return of Jamal Fogarty.

He’s scored two tries and assisted another in his past two games and has got his offload game going too, with his 87.5-point average over that period coming despite him missing 10 tackles for -20 points in demerits.

With just 1.84 percent ownership right now he’s easily the least owned player mentioned on this list and he’s a POD in every sense of the word.

Dylan Walker (MID, $567k)

Since Tohu Harris suffered his season-ending wrist injury after Round 17, Walker has been on the field for all but nine of the 240 minutes the Warriors have played across three games and averaged 58.7 Fantasy points.

That makes him the sixth-best available MID right now and with just 4.1 percent ownership he’s the least owned in that group. While there are other >50 point MIDs who sit in less than five percent of teams – like Corey Jensen (1.77 percent) and Lindsay Collins (3.21 percent) – those guys are in teams well stocked with middle forward talent who could take minutes or workload off them on the run home. That’s not an issue for Walker, who is now a key man in a Warriors pack which has no experienced depth left in the middle of the park.

In addition to good base stats, Walker is a ball player who is a good chance of topping up his scores with line break assists and try assists. The only issue to consider is the Warriors’ Round 27 bye.

Briton Nikora (EDG, $734k)

If you’re looking at his last-round score of 32 then you’re probably thinking I’ve got rocks in my head, but dig a little deeper and Nikora looks a seriously good buy who currently sits in just a touch over five percent of teams.

In his five games prior to last week the Kiwi international averaged 66.6, despite missing 17 tackles through that period which amounted to 34 points lost in demerits. He’s an excellent line runner who is going to have plenty of opportunities to score tries and make line breaks even without Nicho Hynes feeding him ball for the next few weeks.

Cronulla don’t face a current top eight side until Round 27 from here and Nikora is likely to come up against makeshift edge combinations when they face sides like the Knights (Round 24) and Warriors (Round 26).